


Reverse the Polarity

by ahoy_m8tee



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Headaches & Migraines, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, psionic headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 09:55:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2808266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahoy_m8tee/pseuds/ahoy_m8tee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some good ol' hurt/comfort fluff in which the Psiioniic, new to the Signless squad, deals with a Captor-exclusive migraine and must learn the hard way that Signless is stubborn about helping people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reverse the Polarity

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a random headcanon I've been playing around with that, since in canon panels Sollux’s eye colors switch sides pretty regularly, the colors are based on the polarity of his psionics. Sometimes, Captors get particularly bad migraines that lay them flat for almost a whole day when the polarity flips. When they wake up, the eye colors have switched.

The leaves crunched underfoot as the group slowly trudged back to camp after the latest sermon, lightening horizon at their backs and the air slowly warming around them. Conversation was sparse and quiet. When anyone did bother to break the meditative stasis, it was merely to warn those behind of something to watch for in the path. 

Mituna was currently hanging back from the others by a few paces – distant and unresponsive for the most part. There was a dull pounding between his horns, and this usually meant a migraine was brewing. In his dazed shuffling, he almost missed the fact that someone was actually trying to talk to him. Even that took some getting used to, this whole ‘being noticed’ thing.

\- “Captor!” He jumped a bit and blinked down at the preacher who had stopped and was regarding him with a quirked eyebrow.  
\- “Sorry, sir. No disrespect intended. What were you saying?” The resulting eyeroll was proof enough that this wasn’t the first or the last time he’d be corrected for this.  
\- “For the last time, call me sir again and I’m going to whap you-” He’s noticed the guilty wince. “Gah… never mind. It’s just Kankri, okay? And I was just asking if you were alright. You look like you’re about to fall over.” To stress his concern, he’d reached a hand out to hover around Mituna’s elbow, but at least knew enough not to touch him without warning. The offered assistance was politely declined though and the yellowblood shook his head.

\- “No, fine thanks. Just more than ready to sleep is all.” This time he was met with a confused head tilt and a frown, even if it was his companion who actually spoke.  
\- “Aren’t we all?” The girl, Meulin, piped up from the front. “Come on, get moving already!” Kankri immediately stopped the psionic who had tried to side-step him. The blazing red eyes were boring into his, making him inherently nervous.   
\- “Your eyes.” Was the only offered explanation. When he blocked Psii’s path yet again, his hands lingered on the bony chest for half a moment too long. “Your eyes. For a second they were both blue.” He felt a weight drop in his chest.  
\- “Oh… that. They uh.. they do that occasionally. Listen, I don’t think I’m going to be able to go into town with you all for supplies tomorrow after all. I’ll just mind the campsite.” This time, he was successful in brushing past and hurrying to the front of the group and leaving behind a concerned Signless to wonder what he’d said wrong. It was going to be a long day if he didn’t get to sleep while he still could.

The sun had barely begun its descent before Kankri awoke to the sound of pained retching from one of the other tents, followed by a pathetic whimper. The redblood lay confused for a moment, still dazed with sleep, before he placed who exactly was in distress. After that, it was only moments before he’d extricated himself from the tangle of Meulin’s limbs and pulled his hood down to shield his eyes during the short distance between his tent and Captor’s. Even with the noises as warning, however, he was still surprised by the condition their newest companion was in upon pulling back the tent flap.

Mituna was slouched against the farthest support, long ears back and dry heaving as one arm latched around his stomach in attempt to keep it from turning itself inside out, while the other wrapped around the pole to make sure he stayed upright. Kankri had to bite back a gasp when the other finally turned his face. The mismatched eyes were rapidly switching like they couldn’t decide exactly which color to be, and the light behind them which was normally nothing more than a soft glow was now strobing just as erratically. In truth it was almost painful to look at. 

The second he took a step closer towards his ailing friend, the troll in question growled weakly and shrunk away, too frightened and blinded by the searing pain in his thoughtsponge to recognize who it was. The redblood quietly began to shush him, slowly raising his hands to show he meant no harm. It seemed like this would have actually managed to settle him somewhat, except he promptly gagged on a fresh wave of pain and curled over onto his side to cradle his head in his hands. The pitiful keening that matched the rise and fall of his chest twisted Kankri’s pusher in a way he hadn’t been prepared for. This was more like watching a dying animal than another troll in pain. Wait… he wasn’t actually dying, was he?! Nervous all over again, Kankri lowered himself to his knees.

\- “Captor, relax. It’s just me.” The dazed eyes wandered upward to his face, but there was no sign the words had actually gotten through. His fingers were still tangled in his hair as though he were going to tear his head apart himself. “I promise I’m here to help but you need to tell me what’s wrong. Can you sit up? Should I get some water? Talk to me.” At least this time his worried voice managed to strike some kind of recognition and a bony hand shakily grasped the edge of his robe.

\- “Hhhead… h’rts.” Mituna panted. Kankri’s eyebrows knitted as he reached out again to gingerly run his fingertips through the disheveled curls, causing another growl to thrum against the other’s ribs and a few stray colored sparks to jump into the air. He persisted though. He knew very well Captor wouldn’t actually hurt him despite the bared fangs and bristling hair.  
\- “You told me you get migraines, but this seems different from last time.” In which ‘different’ meant ‘much worse’. Last time, the pain hadn’t driven him to be sick. Even when his eyes squeezed shut, their light continued to dance behind his lashes. Mituna let out a breathy whimper as the merciful hand on his head brushed the base of one set of horns – just barely though, as a way of asking permission to touch first. “Does this happen often?” A grumbled noise indicated ‘no’, but Kankri couldn’t help being relieved as the curly mop nudged against his hand in silent plea to continue.

It took some rearranging, but the preacher was soon resting against the tent support with the psionic curled up on the ground next to him. At least his acidsac’s attempts at escaping his body had stopped, though the shivery, whimpering figure it left behind still didn’t seem in much better shape. If he was entirely honest with himself, Kankri had no clue what he was doing, but Captor seemed to quiet a bit when his horns were touched, so that’s where he focused his efforts first. Pulling the yellowblood’s head onto his lap was a nerve-wracking process in itself, but the second he’d gotten the velvety base of a horn between his fingers the psionic’s eyes flew open with a breath hitching painfully in his throat. Where instinct was telling him to give in to reflex and relax like he was supposed to, he was suddenly terrified by the thought of this troll in particular seeing him like this. His hands grabbed at the air and he tensed against the soothing motion. Kankri just rolled his eyes.

\- “Relax and let me help, would you?” He snapped with impatience finding its way into the well-intentioned words. And just like the breaking of a thread, every ounce of fight went out of the troll in his grasp as he fell silent. Obedient. Only when he realized that Captor allowing his head to roll back was his means of baring throat to him did the guilt punch the redblood in the gut. “Hey now… that wasn’t an order. You know that.” Still, the carefulness of his movements was renewed as he carded his fingers through the tangled hair and pinched the base of the twinned horns again. 

After a long span of silence, only broken by the occasional whine or crackle of light shooting off into the space above them, Mituna’s shoulders finally began to release and he could swear he was starting to think in coherent sentences again without unspoken word being too loud for his overly sensitive head. As the talons of pain began to unlatch from his thinkpan, it left just enough room to realize just whose hands were patiently working at his scalp. Who was humming a tune to himself so gently that it was barely above a light puffing through his nose. Who… had probably been rudely woken up and didn’t have to be here. Turning his face enough to glimpse the Signless in his peripheral (moving his eyes was still out of the question at this point), he tried to judge how annoyed the other was. All he did was smile back and continue to slide his thumbs in circles over the yellowblood’s temples.

\- “There he is!” A wince brought his voice down again. “I was worried for a while there when you didn’t respond. I think you passed out for a bit.” The psionic blinked slowly, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to wrap his still-fuzzy mind around the forming thought.  
\- “How long’ve you been here?” The other shrugged.  
\- “About an hour or so. I don’t know exactly.” Mituna’s ears snapped back and he immediately fumbled with apologies as he tried to sit up, but Kankri only tugged him back down. “-oh no you don’t. I’m not leaving until I say so.” Mituna slowly settled down again, accepting his fate. He wasn’t exactly in any shape to protest. “Did you know this was going to happen? Is that why you said you weren’t coming with us tonight?” He nodded.  
\- “Sometimes… my alignment flips and switches sides of my sponge. Especially after draining my psi too much.”  
\- “After that impressive break-out of yours, I’m surprised you made it this long without incident then.” Kankri mused as he brushed his friend’s hair from his face.   
\- “So the colors in your powers, they correspond to right or left too. Not just your eyes.” Another nod.  
\- “That’s why they were going weird on our walk back. The polarity was starting to flip and that’s the first sign.”  
\- “Your eyes really have switched, then. Huh… that’s going to be a bit disorienting for a while.” Mituna huffed in something resembling a laugh, though he was quiet for now as he lay still, relishing the touches that were actually starting to feel good now. 

The Signless thought that his companion had finally fallen into a well-deserved sleep when he caught the faintest raspy grumble coming from the troll beneath him. At first he mistook it for a growl and stopped, silently praying that the affliction wasn’t returning again, but there was no aggression behind the noise. Mituna’s eyelids were fluttering peacefully as his breathing remained slow and relaxed. In a moment of realization, Kankri smiled and stifled the following laugh to the best of his abilities. No, it wasn’t a growl. It was simply a rusty purrbox attempting to remember how to work. 

Continuing to absently run his hand through the gangly troll’s hair, the redblood leaned his head back against the tent support and closed his eyes, a victorious smirk on his face as the garbled purr rattled on like a beat up engine.


End file.
